Expressing the hardships brought forth by unrequited love is one of the most commonly conveyed themes by popular music artists in the contemporary era. The record “Grenade” by Bruno Mars is no exception to this trend. In the song, Mars proclaims his relentless love for a girl, speaking directly and exclusively to her. Unfortunately, as a victim of unilateral love, he is inferior in the power relationship. Both in the lyrics and the video of the song, the girl possesses the dominant ability to manipulate Mars’ emotional and physical well-being either negatively by being apathetic towards his love, or positively by opting to return his affection. From such a position of inferiority, Bruno Mars employs rhetorical strategies such as literary devices, …show more content…
He achieves this by directly characterizing the girl as both apathetic and immoral. To begin with, he brings her apathy to light by the constant reiteration of the phrase “I gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash” (Mars). The diction he uses in this line is critical—his statement that the girl nonchalantly “tossed” all his love in the trash fully demonstrates her disinterest and brings out her evil nature (Mars). This verse, alongside Mars’ declaration that the girl “never…loved [him]” even if he was willing to “die for [her]” fully attests to her cold-heartedness (Mars). Furthermore, Mars proceeds to expose her lack of moral consciousness, stating that if his “body was on fire, [she] would watch [him] burn down in flames” (Mars). The usage of vivid imagery in this case exposes the girl’s clear lack of basic human values. It illustrates that she would callously stand by and watch as Mars suffers serious physical duress and perhaps even death. All in all, the specific diction and powerful imagery employed by Mars throughout the song successfully appeals to audience’s pity, and is an effective use of pathos to win over their …show more content…
In this visual rhetoric, Bruno Mars sings the chorus while displaying his suffering and distress through his facial expressions. Such facial expressions are especially exaggerated when he sings phrases that have caused him significant hardship such as “you said you loved me…but you never, ever, ever did baby” (Mars). During these scenes, the intended audience can carefully examine the emotions revealed by Mars and genuinely commiserate for his suffering. Moreover, the audience is encouraged show empathy for Mars by observing his body posture in specific scenes. For example, when he sings that “I would die for you baby, but you wouldn’t do the same”, he looks down hopelessly to the floor, demonstrating his depression (Mars). In this way, facial expressions and bodily movements are successful rhetorical strategies that Bruno has used by combining the video and the lyrics. The interaction between the two elements undoubtedly adds to pathos, which serves to continuously gain the support of the
The opening stanza sets the tone for the entire poem. Updike uses symbolism to portray the sad, disappointing life Flick ...
People usually expect to see paintings and sculptures in Art Galleries. Imagine the surprise one finds when they are presented with a man stitching his face into a bizarre caricature, or connected to a machine which controls the artist’s body. These shocking pieces of performance art come under the broad umbrella that is Postmodernism. Emphasis on meaning and shock value has replaced traditional skills and aesthetic values evident in the earlier Modernist movements.
The scene depicts what happened to Laura through Eliza’s interpretation. The chorus exemplifies the relationship between her and Jasper, how when Laura went to the tree, he was not there, she didn’t have anyone to hold her and warm her from the cold and pain, which she undertook from her father’s abusive mannerisms. The line “I’m needy”, relates to the desperation she has for freedom and to escape Corrigan. The anguished actions Laura performs replicates the deep sense of sadness and feeling of being overwhelmed that is embodied through the melancholy lyrics. The repetition of these lines influences the theme of her relationship with Jasper and the underpinning outcome of her
During the next few stanzas, Amos creates a character that fights to become a strong, independent woman who can withstand storms and brambles, but is not afraid to deeply, genuinely love another human being. Amos addresses love in a unique and unconquered manner. For example, logical men would look at a small island bearing a single pineapple tree as solitary blemish on the face of the ocean, but Amos sings that “this ocean is wrapped around that pineapple tree,” thus implying that the pineapple tree is commandeering the attention of the seas. She is giving importance to what is otherwise lost in the middle of a great expanse; metaphorically, she is addressing life. In essence, human beings are simple spots on this great expanse of earth, but instead of looking at the human race as a blemish, Amos addresses human life as burning and indispensable.
While communicating with another human being, one only has to examine the other’s face in order to comprehend what is being said on a much deeper level. It is said that up to 55 percent of a message’s meaning can be derived from facial expression (Subramani, 2010). These facial manipulations allow thoughts to be expressed in ways that are often difficult to articulate verbally, with the face demonstrating “the thoughts of the mind, and the feelings of the heart” (Singla). Many expressions are said to universal, particularly those showing happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and...
Distinctive voices of individuals is far much greater than just one’s spoken words; Isn’t it? Voices hold so much more meaning! It can be said to be one’s expression of their attitudes or perspective through body language or a series of actions. We can see that one’s unique opinion towards a subject is inevitably articulated through their unique expression which draws others into viewing the expressed perspective.
In today’s world, celebrities are often misunderstood, especially singer/songwriter Robin Rihanna Fenty, referred to as Rihanna. Rihanna’s sexual behaviors in her videos have been talked about in negative ways for some time now, but what [eople do not understand is that it is all for fame. Celebrities will do anything to keep their career going strong. If one really took the time out to take a deep look at Rihanna, they will notice how humble she really is. After going through the abusive relationship with Chris Brown, Rihanna has struggled with gaining that strong confidence with who she is. Her critics believe that she is still trying to discover herself and figure out who she really is as a person. Rihanna is often given two choices, to do what she is being asked to do, or throw her career out the window. She either gives the crowd the sexual acts they want or let her career die down. In the song “S&M,” Rihanna was really exposing herself to the crowd, as well as “Good Girl, Gone Bad.” She is basically telling the crowd that this is the person she is, but is it really? For my original piece I will be creating a journal, expressing the feelings Rihanna felt as she overcomes her struggles. Rihanna’s sexual behaviors in her videos are really all for fame and therefore, are easily misunderstood.
The main problems with the music video and lyrics of “We Found Love” are the androcentric representation of the couple’s relationship and living arrangements and how it is justified by biological determinism along with the normalization of objectifying women and the dualism of passivity from females in active male dominated relationships.
the artist is feeling deep down in their heart. It is as if their most
The re-invasion of pop music has brought out the theme of love and relationships even more so then ever. If a songwriter has “writer’s block”, then the simple solution is to write a love song. “All I want is you (Come over here baby). All I want is you (You make me go crazy)... I‘m gonna love you right...” (Aguilera), is part of the chorus to Christina Aguilera’s song “Come on Over”. The attraction to this song to girls is in thinking that they could be in the situation of the female character in the song, finding the perfect guy and spending time with him. For guys, the attraction comes because a beautiful girl is singing this and they can pretend that she is singing to them. Something similar is also found in the song “Doesn’t Really Matter” by Janet Jackson. In this song she is stating all the things she loves about a certain individual. She can live with his imperfections and doesn’t care what anyone else cares. “Doesn’t really matter what the eye is seeing. Cause I’m in love with the inner being. And it doesn’t really matter what they believe. What matters to me is you’re nutty, nutty, nutty for me.” (Janet Jackson) This song is good in that it is a love song unlike many out there today. In this song we see that the main character loves her man because of who he is.
As the first poem in the book it sums up the primary focus of the works in its exploration of loss, grieving, and recovery. The questions posed about the nature of God become recurring themes in the following sections, especially One and Four. The symbolism includes the image of earthly possessions sprawled out like gangly dolls, a reference possibly meant to bring about a sense of nostalgia which this poem does quite well. The final lines cement the message that this is about loss and life, the idea that once something is lost, it can no longer belong to anyone anymore brings a sense...
The song “Where’s the Love?” by Black Eyed Peas displays many sociological concept in the context of its lyrics. In this song the band is expressing their concerns with the world’s views and actions of the present day. They question the mentality and reflect upon the realism of the world. The main idea surrounding this song is concentrated around the social construction of reality and how the world is changing. The song expresses the way people are not living up to society’s norms and values. It suggests that various agents of socialization are at fault and that they contribute to the development of self.
In High Fidelity, Rob, the protagonist and narrator, says “I find myself worrying away at that stuff about pop music again, whether I like it because I’m unhappy, or whether I’m unhappy because I like it” (168). It is obvious to the reader that Rob has a very strong relationship to pop music but also that this relationship is not as simple as the either-or dichotomy he describes it as. At first, it is an obsession that is almost pathological; by the end, it is an aid to his relationships and his idea of who he is. Rob’s relationship to music helps us understand Rob as a character through the different ways he uses it to interact in his environment – either as a crutch inhibiting his growth or as a way to aid his self-development.
His concern with the diversity of facial expression and with the expressiveness of body language is a conscious means of breaking taboos against what is ugly, absurd or instinctual. Sagazan’s performance explores extreme emotional states provoking more questions than answers. The contemporary “primitivism” movement in design and art examines objects that will become ritualized, layered with another spirit or energy - embedding them with a soul. Primitivism is, ins...
The lyrics of music play an important part of interpreting the meaning of the song. The roles which women have been allowed by the society to embody have changed drastically. Women may question their roles because of what they see portrayed by popular culture or media. Change in female’s identity can be seen in how women are viewed or how they portray themselves in popular culture specifically through music. In general, music continues to...